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This whole escapade is an accident. I’m much too wimpy to aspire to anything but natural inbred gimpiness. I can barely distinguish a pixel from a gnome. I have no idea what a binary code is …. it looks like this and means absolutely nada to me.

00000100100010010000 00111001000001001100 00111110000001111100

I don’t have a clue what an HTML formatting tag is. Here’s a list of them. There are a LOT more lists of them. Here’s where you can find them.

But I recently had a frustrating encounter with GIMP, which has a stellar program for creating graphics in almost any format. You can make wonderful business cards with enough terrific tools to keep creative juices at the maximum strength. But alas, GIMP doesn’t seem to offer template grids. You get ONE business card but no easy way to create a whole page of them.

So I figured there must be plenty of standard ten-card templates out there in the world of cyberspace. Wouldn’t you think it would be easy to put a standard sized business card created in GIMP into any other site’s standard template for ten business cards???? Looked so damned easy.

But GIMP did not like this intrusion and refused to participate.

So I balked and became intransigent, intractable … and very irritated. I cobbled together a template within GIMP. And then tweaked it to print correctly on my printer which like most home printers doesn’t accomodate the standard American letter size. I had four migraines, fell sleep on the keyboard three times and had a hissy fit twice in the middle of the night. But eventually I got a workable template.

So not wanting to waste all the effort on myself, I decided to launch the GimpWimp for ordinary people who don’t know much more than I do and would just like a simple way to accomplish a basic task without having to download plug-ins and extensions and separate files. Just easy simple solutions explained in easy simple ways. Assuming that my readers are as clueless as I am. And just want to get the job done.

So here goes. The Gimp Wimp is preparing to limp into the fray, hoping to KISS and help other gimpies with a little easier access.

Unfortunately this problem involves a few technical things which gobsmacked me for weeks when I started fussing around with GIMP and business cards … and of course … the template.

The simple answer is. Just go to File and click Open. And then choose your file. Click … and it will appear automatically in its own screen. Then open a blank business card in the correct format …. 2 by 3.5 inches ( 1050 by 600 pixels) and at the correct resolution … which is 300ppi. Now just select and copy whatever you want from your file image … and then paste it into the Gimp business card. And voila. You have it. If you’re lucky. But you’ll probably have images way too large or too small for your business card. And that’s where we really have to tweak a bit.

Size and resolution DO matter. IF you want to use the ten card template

First of all you MUST use the correct size for your business card, regardless of source. AND you must use the same resolution as the template or the card won’t fit. Remember GIMP doesn’t provide a template. That’s why the GIMPWIMP does.

You have two distinct measurements The template for ten cards is 2550 by 3300 pixels in size … which is 8.5 by 11 inches. My business card is 1050 by 600 pixels which is the standard 2 by 3.5 inch size,

But the hitch here is the RESOLUTION. I work at 300 pixels per inch resolution. A very high resolution.

Now GIMP very conveniently and automatically gives you a 300ppi resolution for the 8.5 x 11 inches. That’s what my template is … a standard 8.5 by 11 inch sheet at 300 ppi.

But GIMP doesn’t give you a business card template. Which is why this whole escapade is so complicated. If you type in 2 by 3.5 inches you will see that the ppi is 72 …. that’s WAY too low. It won’t match the template. You need to make that business card at 300 ppi.

So you TRICK Gimp into obeying your request for the higher resolution. Choose the 8.5 by 11 from the menu … it will be 300 ppi. Then merely change the inches to 2 by 3.5 …. and Voila …. you’ll have the correctly sized business card for the GimpWimp template. Copy and save. You’ll need this.

BUT ….. you asked about importing image files.

Well unless your files are at 300 ppi …. you’re going to have a problem, There are ways around it … but far too complicated and technical for this modest blog.

The best thing to do is simply open a Business Card … at 300 ppi. THEN after you have this open, just click onto “new” and import a new image. It will probably be a different size. Depending on its original size and resolution. But what you WILL have sitting right there is an image you can work with.

NOW copy that image and go back to your business card and paste it. It will probably be too bug or too small. So GO BACK to the original image and resize it, You will probably have to eyeball it. Do NOT resize it ON the business card or you’ll lose the entire business card sizing. Work on it on a separate frame. THEN copy and test it on your business card.

My template was created for GIMP business cards in the sizes I’ve indicated above. There are so many tools available on GIMP for lovely graphics that I didn’t cover transferring files from external sources. It can be done. But I feel if you want to create complicated cards then it’s best to use any of the freely available templates for single cards … which are then printed out very reasonably by print shops. You can do anything right here on GIMP but it requires a lot of tweaking, resizing, copying, pasting and counting pixels.

The basic rule is …. Keep the size and resolution of the template … and the business card mutually compatible.

I hope this can help. I’m presuming you’re working entirely in GIMP. If you have more questions, fire at me and I’ll try my best.

I am truly puzzled here. The standard postcard is 4 by 6 inches … which is right there on the Gimp template menu. It’s A3 … or 1800 by 1200 pp
Just click on that and you have the correct size right there. Sorry I don’t have a template for multiples since so few people print more than a few postcards. I’ve only worked out templates for business cards which are more popular. As far as I know there are no other GIMP business card templates available.

I don’t know if you are familiar with GIMP. It’s a wonderful program but it’s also a steep learning curve if you’ve never used it before. It took me a couple of years to become really comfortable with it. I’d suggest Googling some GIMP tutorials to get the basic details if this is your first GIMP project. There are a LOT … I wish I could offer more suggestions. Perhaps the Etsy vendor could help you.